


Beware Of The Cat's Eye, They Said

by pumpkin_patch



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Also gems fighting, And of course BillDip and Mabifica in later chapters, Basically the Gravity Falls characters being gems n junk, Crystal!Falls AU, F/F, M/M, gem!falls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-05-28 17:53:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6339406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pumpkin_patch/pseuds/pumpkin_patch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, Dipper and Mabel were very excited and enthusiastic about participating in their first mission alongside Grunkle Stan and Ford. It meant crossing the last border from childhood to growing up, proving themselves strong and capable enough to defend themselves and all that jazz.</p><p>Little did they know that through their actions a handful of Homeworld gems have become very aware of them. </p><p>And not in a good way.</p><p>After that particular day, the twins find themselves being stalked by swift, dark shadows, weird things begin to happen around them and terrible nightmares start haunting their dreams. </p><p>Deciding this has to be stopped, they hatch a plan to overwhelm whoever is so keen on messing with their heads and privacy. </p><p>Having no idea who and what they are up against, they bring themselves into a immensely dangerous situation with heavy consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ∆ Chapter 1 ∆

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks, I'm pumpkin and this is my first fanfic I am actually posting on ao3 and I'm kinda super excited and oh my glob *squeals* D:
> 
> I've just recently finished Gravity Falls (haha yeah about time but hey) and I've been seeing all this Gem!Falls/Crystal!Falls art on Tumblr…
> 
> And that's how this fanfic just kinda… happened. >:O
> 
> I've never actually read a lot of Gem!Falls before except some gem!BillDip drabbles but I really liked the idea so I slowly started to map out some kind of plot for my GF babies and found myself googling gems that might fit Stan, Ford, Soos etc.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy, there will be a more chapters soon! 
> 
> Let me know what you think about this chapter, constructive criticism is always desired~ °3°
> 
> ENJOY ;3

Dipper yawns widely and traces the dark lines of the wooden kitchen table, absentmindedly picking at the annoying splitters protruding from the rough wood. With the other hand, he is almost desperately clinging to his steaming coffee mug as if it was his only life source. Warm, refracted light is falling through the typical greenish windows of the Mystery Shack, gentle bird chirping sounding from outside.

It is midsummer and probably something around seven in the morning. Dipper didn’t sleep a wink the night and decided to get himself through the day with as much caffeine as possible. He takes a long sip of the slightly too hot strong dark liquid and hums contently when he starts feeling the caffeine swirling through his veins, refreshing the slumbering cells in his sleepy brain.

His precious moment of bliss is harshly interrupted by something, or rather somebody, suddenly tackling him off his chair to the ground. Hissing and (non-foully) cursing when this temple hits the tiled floor hard and a sharp burst of pain shoot through his brain, he blindly tries to scramble away from the weight pinning him down. Opening his eyes, he finally catches a glimpse of his attacker.

Mabel, his elder twin sister, also half human, half gem, is straddling his back and sporting a wide mischievous and bracey smile.

„Jesus Christ, watch out, Mabel! You almost cracked my gem!“ Dipper’s hands immediately fly up to the bluish glowing Moonstone embedded into his forehead, his fingers gingerly prodding at it and searching for any kind of damage done.

„Aww Dipper, stop being so overprotective of your precious little gem! I could always heal it if it was cracked so no worries!“ Mabel giggles and presses her elbow in Dipper’s spine playfully, pinning the blue gem even more down. She lets out a content little noise when Dipper groans beneath her. „ _Aaanyway_ , guess what Grunkle Ford told me today.“

„Mabel, how the hell would I know?“ Dipper cries out, his voice pitching embarrassingly, accidentally jumping an octave higher. Although his voice has gotten deeper and more constant over the years, it still cracks sometimes and it drives him totally mad. „For all I know, he could ave told you anything, from mathematically predicting the airing of the Duc-Tective finale to that he finally built some mote-finding device for Grunkle Stan! Now please, please get off me before I start panicking!“

„Oh come on, Dipper, if it was for something like that, would there be a reason for me to tackle you down? See dummy, his is _waaay_ more important business here. Although I should probably really ask him about the Duck-tective finale.“ Mabel muses, smiling when she has her brother’s full attention.

„Spill the beans, Mabel.“ Dipper squirms beneath her expectantly now that he almost literally can feel the happiness radiating from her.

„Grunkle Ford told me that … he is goiNG TO TAKE US ON A MISSION WITH HIM AND GRUNKLE STAN!“ Mabel shouts into her brothers ear and Dipper jolts at the sudden raise of voice, but lets out a loud whoop himself, jumping to his feet and hugging the Sunstone after she has released her iron grip on him. „This is great news, Mabel! Finally they both think we are mature and capable enough to fight actual monsters! Isn’t that awesome? It is our chance to prove how strong we really are!What kind of mission do you think it will be? Challenging maybe? Or rather easy since it is our first one?Should we pack? Yeah, we definitely should, there’s a lot of stuff in the Shack that could come in handy–

„Woow, brobro, no need to get so excited there. It’s only a teeny tiny missions don’t get all worked up.“ Mabel plays down her own excitement, the start shaped Sunstone peeking over her bright red top betraying her by pulsing brightly in the colors of the rainbow a few times.

Dipper chuckles. The way Mabel’s gem expresses her emotions is truly adorable.

„Alright, kids, what are you two knuckleheads up to, causing a ruckus at this antichrist time of day?“ Grunkle Stan’s grumpy voice sounds from the doorframe and the twins, who have started to do some kind of celebration dance, squeak collectively. The older gem just gives them a short unreadable look – probably silently questioning their sanity – and walks up to the kitchen table. He snatches Dipper’s coffee mug and starts chugging it down with hungry gulps. Before Dipper can protest, Mabel blurts in excitement: „Grunkle Ford told me we are aloud to join the two of you on today’s mission!“

There is a choke, followed by a lot of coughing and other not very gross noises by Stan – frankly, most of the coffee didn’t make it down his esophagus. „He did WHAT?“ He yells in disbelief, wiping his mouth and throwing his arms above his head. „How can that bastard possibly think two gemlings like you would be able to fight already? This isn’t something you can calculate, Ford, this is about assessment and knowledge about people, god damnit, how many times to I have to tell you, Ford?“

„In fact, we are hardly gemlings anymore, we are both turning sixteen in a week and you two let Wendy come along when she was the same age!“ Dipper protests, slightly disappointed that Stan still didn’t think they were strong enough to fight the dangers nature offers.

„She said she’d stop working at the Shack if I did’t say yes. Sneaky little redhead. I swear, you gemlings are getting more and more cocky every day.“ Stan huffs and stomps off into the living room. Soon, the heartwarming sound of crap Gravity Falls commercial can be heard. Which is Stan’s usual way for dealing with defeat or Grunkle Ford. Or just his entire life.

Mabel lets out a high pitched squeal and pinches Dipper’s cheeks excitedly. „Did you hear that, Dipper? That was so absolutely definitely a yes! Let’s find Grunkle Ford so we can set out immediately! Come on! Who knows, maybe you can impress Wendy later when she finally comes home from whatever long term mission she is on!“ Mabel wiggles her eyebrows suggestively and runs off to the vending machine, cackling evilly.

A faint indigo flush creeps over Dipper’s cheeks; He still hasn’t completely got over his stupid crush on Wendy yet, but, compared to the last years, he now pictures her more like a family member. A really _hot_ family member.

He quickly hurries after Mabel and they both take the elevator down to Grunkle Ford’s lab in the basement. Arriving there, the doors open with an ear piercing screech and they almost bump into the elder gem who clearly wasn't expecting them.

„Hello there kids.“ Grunkle Ford greets with a gentle smile, readjusting the several books and scrolls he had tucked under his armpit. „How can I help you? Is it the mission? I really hope you were able to talk Stanley around, he wasn’t very fond of my suggestion to take you two along.“ „Oh Grunkle Ford, of course we were able to convince him.“ Mabel laughs and makes room for the Obsidian so he can squeeze himself into the small room next to the twins in the tiny elevator.

„We wanted to ask you if we could maybe set out already. Like, now.“ She adds, bouncing on her heels while Grunkle Ford presses the button to ground level. „Hmmm… let’s see… I don’t have anything special planned for today and I really don’t approve of Stanley shrinking the rest of his little brain with low-budget Tv-shows, so why not!“

„Yay!“ The twins cheer enthusiastically and dash towards the living room to drag Stan away from his primary life source. There is a lot of bickering, foul cursing, giggling and complaining until the younger gems finally manage to move Stan to get his lazy bottom off the sofa.

„Ford, you weak excuse of an Obsidian, how on earth could you promise them to join us on a mission? Can’t you see they are way too young to fight? They are far from ready.“ Stan immediately grabs Fords collar in an iron grip and shakes him a little.

„Stanley, you misunderstand, and there is no reason to insult my gem! They are very much ready to fight and fully capable of using their weapons! I don’t see why they should not come along and gain some experience. After all, the time will come they will have to take on their own missions, also gathering information about the beasts threatening the citizens of Gravity Falls and honing their fighting skills will be necessary to protect them in the future.“ Seeing Stan wasn’t fully persuaded, he quickly added: „If the situation gets too BRENZLIG, we can still jump in, okay?“

Stan just sighs exasperatedly, Ford sure has a point there. He rolls his eyes and shoves the Obsidian a little, stomping up the stairs to something more suitable than his wifebeater and his underwear.

„How about you go change too and we meet here in five minutes?“ Grunkle Ford suggests and the twins immediately hop up the creaking wooden stairs.

In their room, the two young gems quickly get dressed, changing into form-fitting suits of stretchy material. One may mistake it for latex, but it is less shiny and a bit thicker and doesn't look slutty.

Dipper’s is dark blue and black with a white moon on his chest. It is leaving his shoulders bare, but he doesn't really mind. It may be becoming a problem in winter though. Long white gloves stretching up to the middle of his arm going well with his white hair and the light blue knee high boots match and bring out his skin color.

Mabel’s, of course, consists only of bright colors, matching her personality. It is high necked but still leaves out space for her gem on her chest, and the way she is smoothing down the fabric on her body tells she is more than satisfied how it makes her look. Most of her suit is of copper red, vibrant yellow stripes on the outside of her thighs bring out her curves she has developed over the years. Yellow over knees stretch down from mid-thigh and end in bright red comfy boots, the same color her short fingerless gloves are. She has braided her long more reddish than chestnut hair into a single thick braid that hangs down her chest loosely, of course not missing one or two matching star shaped pins peeking out here and there.

„Geez, these suits are so uncomfortable and embarrassing!“ Dipper groans displeasedly and pulls at the fabric. „Why the hell do they have to be so tight?!“

„Aw, come on, Dipper, Wendy made them for us, show some respect to her hard work. I think mine is beautiful! Just look at the colors, Dipper! Aren't they really well chosen? And yours doesn’t even look bad! She even thought about leaving out some skin for your luminescent junk! She really did a great job!“ Mabel compliments.

„Well that’s what I like to hear from my fav little Sunstone! Seriously Mabel, you’re gonna make me blush like a fairy princess if you don’t quit the shit already.“ A deep familiar female voice sounds from the doorframe. The twins whip their heads around, the sight greeting them letting their jaws drop open. Wendy is leaning in the door casually, waving her left hand them. Due to the artificial light, the color changing Diaspore embedded in her palm sends red rays of light to to the ground.

The twins almost can’t believe their eyes. Wendy has been gone for so long and wasn’t to return till at least next week! About two months ago, Grunkle Stan had send her on a secret long term mission somewhere to the East Coast. Wendy loved proving her strength and capability, so of course she gladly accepted. Summer at the Shack had been terribly lonely without her. Sure, Soos was still around, doing the usual mending and cleaning, but somehow, everything seemed incomplete without Wendy.

„Wendy! I’m so glad you're back!“ Mabel cries out and almost knocks the red and green gem over as she embraces her into a tight hug. „You were gone so long! Where have you been?“

„Yeah, well the Stans thought it would be great to send me on this crazy long tracking mission to New Jersey, and I wasn't allowed to use the warp pad because the sea monster I should hunt down kinda sensed that or something? Anyway, the thing was sinking ships with all that cargo all over the East Coast. It took me at least two weeks before I could spot it somewhere and a month till I first met it face to face. But in the end I did a pretty quick job to end the bastards life.“

„I’m glad you're alright! You didn’t get hut, right?“ Mabel hums and hugs the Diaspore a little tighter, but Wendy just laughs and punches her in the shoulder playfully.

„Awww Mabel don't get all sappy on me here, I think I’m gonna cry, man. Oh hey, Dip! How’s it hanging? Come give your… how’s it called again? Ah, right. Don’t be shy and give your second sister a hug!“

A faint indigo blush creeps over his cheeks when Wendy pulls him flush against him, her strong arms wrapping around his torso. He awkwardly hugs her back and, to his surprise realizes he has finally outgrown her by almost an inch. Looks like he had a bit of a growth spurt in the last two months.

„Would you like to join us on our first mission or would you rather rest a bit?“ Dipper can’t help but ask when he gently frees himself from her arms. Although he knows Wendy must be pretty exhausted, he would really like her to join them on their first real mission.

„See for yourself!“ She says with a mischievous grin splitting her face in half. She tiptoes and quickly presses her lips to the Moonstone on Dipper’s forehead, cackling evilly when the younger gem blushes furiously.

„Haha! I'm sorry but I just couldn't resist. That’s too cute man!“ She giggles but Dipper has no time to protest. Specs of future events start flashing before his eyes, blending out the present he saw mere moments ago. They dance across his vision like butterflies in a light summer breeze, flickering back and forth again, the images overlapping occasionally.

Wendy somehow has the ability to see the future, nobody really knows why. She can’t see very far, tops is half an hour and t it not always accurate since she can only see up to three outcomes when she is in form. She only recently found out that her ability can be temporally passed on by kissing someones forehead. Now, she obviously is a little worn out so Dipper only sees one outcome, and it makes the corners of his mouth turn upwards. The two Grunkles and the three younger gems are cautiously treading through a huge coniferous forest unknown to him. It is dark and mossy and–

The vision is sone as soon as it came, vanishing and blurring into reality. Dipper rubs his eyes and grins. „Well then,“ He says and heads to he door. „Off we go!“

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

„Who the _fuck_ did this? And how the hell did we not notice?“ Stan’s loud, rough voice echoes through the room, piercing all the ears in the firs level of Ford’s underground lab. The five gems are standing around the teleport pad and are collectively staring at the cracked white crystal in disbelief. It is completely shattered and dangerously sharp splitters that could easily murder Waddles if he accidentally rolled onto them are scatters all over the ground, some of them lodged into the wall.

„I know you’re upset, Mr. Pines, but will you please shift sown a gear with the swearing? We kinda have a set of gemlings on board, and I don’t think their maiden ears can take such profanity.“ Wendy says, shrugging when Stan shoots her an angry look and winking when Ford smiles approvingly.

„We are not gemlings!“ Mabel and Dipper huff in unison. „You’re not much older yourself Wendy!“

„Age is no measurement for maturity.“ Wendy sings. „Just look at Mr. Pines.“

„ _WHAT_ DID YOU JUST SAY.“

„As well as for behavior…“

„Watch your tone, missy, watch your tone. Imma fire you if you don't watch out.“

„AND wisdom. Oh please, Mr. Pines, the Shack would totally kick the bucket it you’d fire me.“

„Everybody calm down, we are missing the really important question.“ Ford cuts into the friendly rant between the Black Moissanite and Diaspore, causing their heads to whip up.

„Do you think you could still heal it, Mabel?“ He asks the Sunstone, crouching down to inspect the shattered fragments.

„Hmmm… I’m sorry, Grunkle Ford, but I don’t think so. Look, there are these huge splitters broken off everywhere and that huge crack splitting it in half entirely… It would take a lot more spit than I could ever produce.“ Mabel shakes her head sadly.

„Looks like we will have to get there somehow else.“ Dipper suggests.

„Yeah, let’s just take the car, I mean why not. The location is not that far away, it’s like, MAXIMAL a half hour car ride.“ Wendy adds, slowly making her way to the elevator.

„But who’s gonna drive? I am totally not letting Ford or the twins drive. With Ford’s average driving speed, we’re not going to arrive anywhere before nightfall and the twins are gonna get us in jail. Damn, we really have to get them a license soon.“

„No prob, Mr. Pines, I’m gonna take over the driving today. A woman’s gotta polish her driving skills once in a while.“

Although there were only four people in the room, the loud groan filling the room could be from hundreds.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

They all knew the car ride would be terrible and that Wendy was a quite… well, aggressive driver, but not a single one would never thought it would be that bad. Wendy often drove the bus her human friends owned, and with the time, rumors spread about her being a ‚totes insane crazy ass driver‘.

However this was only confirmed when Dipper and Mabel caught Robbie puking into the bushes after Wendy had driven the group to a concert and back. He said that he couldn’t stress how much more he would have liked to be run over by a tank and left in the sun to rot and his half dead corpse to be picked at by vultures.

Dipper, Mabel and Ford are sitting on the backseat stiffly, getting hauled to the left and right from time to time, either Ford or Dipper getting squeezed by two bodies.

Wendy is very fond of the „Petal to the metal“ technique, her foot constantly on the gas pedal, pushing it down as far as it will go all the time. Occasionally, she reduces her sped by hitting the brakes. Slowing down in curves isn’t a word present in her vocabulary as well as don’t randomly start racing other cars on the highway as well as don’t do idiotically risky Dukes-of-Hazzard-style car jumps over road bumps as if it where a totally normal thing to do. Cutting in before other cars is also a thing she likes and aparently thumb wrestling with Stan while driving with 150 mph is a totally okay thing to do. 

In short, Wendy it a hell of a kamikaze driver.

Which surprisingly, well, actually not, Stan is totally fine with.

He, of course, claimed shotgun the second Wendy offered to drive and slid into the passenger seat before anyone else could take it away. Sneaky guy.

„Do you even have a licence, kid?“ Stan asks next to her, magically not affected at all when she takes an other sharp turn with felt 179 miles per hour, sending Mabel and Grunkle Fors crashing into Dipper in the back seats. There are a lot of strangled chokes, pained curses and awkward whaley sounding wails (Probably from Dipper), but none of the gems in the front seems to care.

„I drove the bus of my human friends a couple of times. Pretty quickly got the hang of it.“ Wendy just shrugs and winds down the window with her left hand.

„Seems legit. Just watch out for the cops, I just wiggled my way out of their grips las week… It included twelve barrels of talking kittens, glue guns, fake wings and a lot of glitter. Don't ask. You never know when they bug you, although they are a bunch of incompetent idiots.“

„No worries, Mr. Pines, I learnt from the best!“ She winks and Stan chuckles, patting her shoulder. „Thats my girl.“

„Hey, Mr. Pines, let’s see if we can force that red truck off the road a little into the ditch, like, not too offensive, but gently, like, finding the perfect ratio of gentle and anti-sozial, ya know what I mean.“

„Hell yes, that’s what you get for that Sevral Timez bumper sticker, idiot! Force him off the road! Off the road!“

„Boosh!“

The frustrated groan from the back row is drowned by Stan’s cheering and Wendy’s repeated chants of ‚Die!, Die!’.

When they finally, finally arrive, Dipper has the burning need to puke. His stomach is twisting and turning and constantly making the attempt to crawl up his esophagus. Bile rises up in his throat and he leans against the side of the rusty old car, taking greedy gulps of air to chase away the dreading feeling of nausea.

„Wasn’t that a _great_ ride folks. Aww yiss, I feel so pumped right now, I could kill a bear with my bare hands right now! Heh, nice one there, Wendy. Bear, bare.“

 They trot off into the wood after Mabel had to soothe Dipper and Ford’s stomach sicknesses. Dipper's nausea slowly transforms to excitement and anticipation. His steps start to turn smoother and he feels the soft tingle of adrenaline buzzing in his chest and spreading into the rest of his body. He is absolutely caught in the thrill of the situation. This is his and Mabel’s very first mission! Their _first_ one. The step crossing the childhood barrier and finally becoming an adult. It means Responsibility. Maturity. Freedom. Whatever. Everything is so exciting! Dipper's hears does a small leap in his chest.

Actually, it had surprised him that Grunkle Ford had made the suggestion since he and Stan had promised the twins they would be allowed to come along when they were adults in human standards. But that was back then when they moved to the Shack a long time ago.

They moved to Gravity Falls when they were too small to have memories about it, but Grunkle Ford told him it was because his father had left and his mother had to give up her own body for carrying out him and Mabel. 

Their mother was a gem, he can’t quite remember which one, but Grunkle Stan and Ford called her by a different name, like he is Dipper and not Moonstone and his sister is Mabel instead of Sunstone. She got engaged with a man who was half human half gem and soon became pregnant. When she told him the news he initially was very happy, but when she confessed that she had to die and give up her life in order to make life for two new little gems possible, he left her, not being able to deal with the whole situation. He is probably somewhere in California now. Dipper doesn't think much about his parents, he has a picture of his mother cradling her swollen belly lovingly, and he sometimes asks himself what it would be like to have a mother, but over time he accepted that the family he was having now is the best thing that could ever have happened to him. Although they aren't related by blood, Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford are his parents, they _feel_ like his parents and Soos and Wendy come very close to being his siblings. 

Stanley and Stanford were friends with his and Mabel's mother and willingly took the baby twins in. Back then, Stan had to watch over them most of the time since Ford took over his part of missions he couldn't fulfill anymore. he taught the twins a lit of useful things about gem nature and history, taught them reading and writing, and Ford enjoyed educating them about humans and science, often taking them out to see some of his old human friends or secretly taking them into his lab.

All in all, Dipper and Mabel have spent the most beautiful childhood and had everything they could wish for. 

„Make some light, will ya, Dipper.“ Stan commands and Dipper quickly snaps out of his thoughts. Damn, he had been so deep in thoughts he hadn’t noticed the light was hardly reaching the soft mossy forest floor anymore because of the destiny of the huge and healthy conifers. He closes his eyes and lets the luminescent particles (or cells, he doesn’t really know how this mechanism works himself) flow out of his gem and through his veins, letting his body and especially his white hair emit a soft white light that gently illuminates the gnarled barks or the trees.

The group slowly approaches into the depths of the forest until a clearing appears in front of them out of nowhere. There is enough light so Dipper lets the luminescent particles retreat into his gemstone again. It is actually a pretty large clearing and he wonders how such a place can even exist in such a thickly overgrown wood. It is quiet, almost oddly so, but Dipper doesn't think about that much.

„Hmm, it should around here at this time of day…“ Ford murmurs and gets out a complicated metally device with a huge telescopic antenna attached to its front. It clicks every ten seconds. He holds it up into the air and walks across the clearing a few times, but the clicking doesn’t become faster, not does it slow down.

„What exactly are we chasing?“ Mabel asks, squatting so she can inspect a glittering stone on the ground. Wendy joins her and picks the stone up, stashing it away in an arm pocket of her tight green and red suit. „Yeah, Mr. Ford, this is totally boring… Let’s just go _hunt it down_ already.“

„Slow down, Wendy, it’s the first time we are having the kids with us so let’s keep it calm. And stop encouraging Mabel to play with stones during mission, don’t distract yourself too much.“ Stan says when suddenly, out of nowhere, a piercing screech splits the calmness around everybody. Dipper’s hands immediately clamp over his ears, trying to somehow block out the horrible sound. 

At the other end of the clearing, Ford’s device is blinking rapidly and his lips form something around the lines of ‚It’s coming!‘. Everybody instinctively fall into battle stance, planting their feet apart to gain a better firmness on the mossy ground and straightening their backs, their hands flying to their gems to get out their weapons. In the distance, Dipper can see the pines and larches quiver as if a large beast was forcing it’s way through them, which is probably the case. The screeching has ebbed away and only a quieter gurgling and sniffling remains, the _thing_ is probably taking up their scent sniffing it's way to them. The stomping gets louder and louder and Dipper can feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins, tingling in his chest and spreading out into his lower belly and throat. Sweat starts trickling down his neck into his suit and his breath quickens, coming out in harsh breaths. 

Next to him, Mabel is completely calm, surrounded by a battle calm he would never have expected her to have and grabs the air in front of her gem. There is a soft sparkly reddish glow and a grappling hook (without hook) that can shoot lasers appears in her right hand. In the meantime, Wendy already has her axe tightly griped in both of her hands and Ford makes his dark grey shield appear out of his gem on his right forearm. 

„Stanley!“ He shouts to Grunkle Stan, who is lazily leaning against the trunk of a tree in the back and tracing patterns into the ground with a stick, clearly bored. „It looks like there are going to be at least four of them, if not even more. This is a lot more serious than we thought!“ 

In an instant, Stan’s eyes light up and a wide smile splits his always grumpy face in two. Excitedly, he leaps up to Stan’s side and whoops loudly. „Stanford, this is great! Finally there is some _fun_ going on! Now I’m looking forward to this!“ He exclaims loudly, laughing and with a black glow, a set of massive and heavy spiky brass knuckles appear around Stan’s hands. He swings them a couple of times to get just the right feeling and he is radiating excitement. 

With a loud crash, the trees hemming the clearing break apart and two huge part lion part bear beasts with beaks and wings of eagles stomp onto the clearing, letting the ground vibrate with the heaviness of their paws. Smelling Dipper and Mabel’s partly human meat, they screech again and target the group of younger gems, tossing their heads around and leaving deep muddy imprints in the mossy ground.

Dipper protectively steps in front of Mabel, pulling his light blue glowing sword out of his forehead in one skillful motion, gripping it with both hands. While Stan and Ford are fighting off the other creature – Stan laughing manically when he punches the lion head right into the face, leaving a large red and purple bruise as well as probably breaking it's cheekbone and ripping off some furred skin – Wendy, Mabel and the Moonstone concentrate on the other one. 

It is slightly smaller but broader than his companion and his great beak clicks dangerously before he tries to peck after the twins, their human flesh probably having attracted him here and making him hungry. They dart away quickly and Wendy uses the lowering of the beast’s head as a chance to jump up it’s head. When she digs her heels into it’s neck, she lifts both her hands in attempt to shatter the monster’s spine, but the lion part of the body rears up so she looses halt. The Diaspore barely manages to grip a bony part of wing before falling to the ground. 

Before Wendy retreats without having accomplished anything, she sinks her axe into the wing joint with a precise, powerful stroke and completely cuts it off, the whole thing falling to the ground with a loud thump. While the beaked lion-bear wildly screams in pain and blood sprays out of the fresh wound, Wendy elegantly drops to the ground and Mabel and Dipper carge, exploiting the opening.

Dipper jumps up the creature’s left leg and buries his sword into the main artery where it meets the torso on the inside. There is an other unbearably loud animalistic wail of pain and when the blue gem pulls his sword out again, a great spurt of blood shoots out of the deep wound with a such a force it splatters him as well, the dark red fluid feeling sticky and hot and disgusting on his face. He immediately sinks his sword into the leg again, this time with a more slicing motion, chopping out a big piece of meat like an axe would do with wood.

The leg buckles, but Dipper has already leaped up onto it’s back, clawing his hands into the thick orange fur blending into shaggy dark black. The whole body trembles violently and Dipper has to tense all his muscles in order to prevent falling off.

His lips form a wide grin, so wide it is straining his cheeks. This is fun. There is no other word he could describe it otherwise. _Fun_. Endorphins are swirling through his brain, causing his body to become relaxed and a giggle almost makes it past his lips. This is what Stan must be feeling like when he fights. It all makes sense to him now. The rush of the battle, taking action, slicing his sword through evil tissue, the blood pounding in his ears; it feels _wonderful_. He enjoys it enormously. 

Next to him, Mabel lands on all four, her laser gun clamped underneath her armpit. 

„Be more carful with that, Mabel!“ Dipper shouts over the the sounds of the fight. „You could accidentally set it off and hurt someone!“ 

„Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Dipper, I’ve _totally_ got this.“ Mabel says, now holding the gun in both hands again. „Just let me blind him quickly, be right back!“ She giggles and runs up the lion’s neck till she is standing on top of it’s head. From there she gracefully spins around and backflips down, mercilessly shooting the lion’s eyes out with her lasers. The beast rears up again and Dipper sees what he has been searching for the entire time: The vertebras of the neck clearly poking out of the leathery skin.

Without losing time, Dipper darts forward, grips his sword tightly with both hands and rams it down into the howling beast’s spine with all his strength. He can feel skin and muscle split and bone crunch beneath his sword, and the beast’s whole body tenses, the animal letting out a breathy and throaty sound when it’s legs give in to it’s weight and the whole body gets limp and falls to the ground. 

Before he can be crushed by three tones of mystical beast, he quickly hops off the carcass fleet-footedly. Thankful for having some solid ground beneath his feet again, he, to his own surprise, finds himself panting hard, the mixture of sweat and blood and dirt stinging in his eyes and his left leg awfully cramped. Now that the adrenaline is slowly wearing off, all the strain and pain of the battle hits him with full force and he bites back a groan. 

„Nice strike, Dip.“  Wendy compliments and punches his shoulder. „We were just admiring the spectacle of Stan and Ford fighting three of those lion-bears at once and if you'd ask me– OH MY GOD.“ 

Wendy’s mouth falls open in amazement and disbelief and when Dipper snaps his head around, his expression mirrors the redhead’s. 

Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford have begun performing a _fusion_ _dance_. A freaking. fusion. dance. Having missed the first part, white light engulfs the old fashioned waltzing pair as the pitch black and dark grey gem fuse into one. The blending light slowly takes form of a huge, huge, new and more powerful gem, four pitch black eyes staring the VERGLEICHSWEISE dog sized monster down. 

„What the hell.“ Dipper breathes in awe, not able to tear his eyes away from what had recently been both of his Grunkles. 

„I know, right?“ Wendy replies, her eyes wide and a smile creeps over face. „They are so… strong. I can feel their strength buzzing in the air.“

„It must be Onyx.“ Mabel says behind their backs. 

„And how the _hell_ do you know that?“ Dipper and Wendy demand in unison.

„When Grunkle Stan was really drunk after our thirteenth birthday party and he was still searching for Grunkle Ford after we thought he had gone missing in Greenland, he got really depressive and sad and muttered something about Onyx being dead forever if he didn’t find Ford soon. And since Grunkle Ford is an Obsidian, it could only be their fusion!“

„Hmm, makes sense… Wait, gems actually _can_ get drunk?!“ Wendy calls and whoops loudly, raising her fist into the air. „I knew it! Yeah! Boom, Grunkle Stan, I told ya!“

Their laughter is interrupted by the maniacal rumbling laughter Onyx is barking when he takes the lion-bear-eagle’s neck into all four hands and gives it a cruel, merciless twist. An unpleasant crack echoes across the clearing and even Wendy finches at the disgusting sound paired with the fit of pure evil laughter pouring out of Onyx’ two mouths. The look in his eyes has changed, it now radiates insaneness and destruction and can’t distinguish between good and evil anymore, the fusion would destroy everything that comes within reach of it’s gigantic black hammer.

Laughing even louder, Onyx brings his hammer down onto the next monster, crushing it with an ease as if it was an over-ripe water melon. That is how the poor creature looks when the fusion doesn't stop with that strike, he brings the hammer down again and again, bloody and slimy intestines being ripped out of the torn body.

A choking sound escapes Wendy's throat and when Dipper turns to her, she has both of her hands clamped over her mouth. He soothingly rubs circles over her back, trying to help her overcome the nausea he too is feeling in his stomach.

The third one tries to flee, it's tail pinched between it's hind legs in fear, but Onyx sends it against the next tree with a powerful swing of his hammer. It don't move, so the spine is probably broken. The fusion laughs triumphantly, raising his hammer over his head with both hands, obviously enjoying the sight of the cadavers he had produced.

But then. Onyx stands still. Far too still. And then he turns to the group of young gems, his coal black maniacal eyes locating them like it was slow motion, and slowly, a dreading feeling laying itself heavily onto the three gems. 

The three younger gems exchange panicked looks as the mad and insane fusion starts moving towards them. All three are much to scared to move, it is like their blood had frozen inside their veins, hindering their limbs to follow the instructions their brains are screaming at them. They huddle together, the two girls squeezing their eyes shut, not able to hold Onyx stare. 

There is only one sentence going around in Dipper's mind, blocking out all further thoughts. _Please defuse, please defuse, please defuse_. He doesn't even notice that he is mumbling them to himself, repeating it like a mantra, over and over.

And just as if it had read Dipper’s mind, or words, there is a great flash of bright white light and both Grunkles tumble to the ground, cursing each other and groaning.

„Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!“ Mabel shouts and immediately runs to them, successfully cutting the two bickering adults off when she pulls them both into a tight and awkward hug. The sunstone in her chest glows warm copper light of relief. Dipper and Wendy just sit there, not believing the luck they just had. If Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan wouldn't have managed to defuse, they would probably be dead now.

„Come on, let’s join they group hug. You know, for the irony and all that jazz.“ Wendy says and pulls Dipper after her. 

„I am so glad you’re alright!“ Mabel sniffs and cuddles the two elder gems even more tightly, totally ignoring the fact they are getting more and more uncomfortable with every second. „Sup, old people.“ Wendy greets them. „The fusion you pulled off earlier was totally amazing! But it kinda freaked us out in the end.“

„I know right? Told ya Ford! That’s my girl!“ Stan beams and pulls her into the group hug and lovingly ruffles her hair. "Yeah okay, the freaking out part might not have been okay..." He adds when Grunkle Ford shoots him a displeased look.

„This was _absolutely_ _horrible_! If I had let you take over, Onyx would have lost control and destroyed anything within his reach! And this time it was _your_ fault! If you hadn’t gone so overboard, we could have worked nicely together! If I hadn’t interfered, you could have _killed_ Wendy, or Dipper, or Mabel!“ Grunkle Ford shouts and a flicker of bad conscience sneaks across Stan’s face. 

„Okay, okay, I’m _genuinely_ sorry, Ford, and kids, looks like I was looking forward to being part of Onyx a tad too much – okay _way_ too much – and lost control. It won’t happen again!“ He sings at the end and stands up, stretching his legs. Ford mutters something around the lines of ‚immature dumbass’ and they begin to leave the place. Suddenly, Stan's voice rings across the clearing.

„Mother of God, everyone quick, lets break out some of those kitty’s beaks and claws and load them into the trunk, I can sell those for a fortune!“

Sometimes, Stan is the worst, but somehow, nobody can really stay mad at him.


	2. ∆ Chapter 2 ∆

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey again!  
> I proudly present you...  
> The second chap! :O  
> I actually thought I would be able to get this one done earlier, but holidays kinda prevented me from doing so :/  
> Also thank you for commenting on the first chapter, it means so much to me :)
> 
> NOTE: I decided the Homeworld gems would call themselves by their gem names and then use "code names" when they arrive on earth. Might be a bit confusing :3
> 
> Googling the gems might help finding out who is who! >u>
> 
> I will try to upload the next one in a week or so, but there still are relatives to visit and conventions to go to.
> 
> Leave a comment if you like! 
> 
> Enjoy~~ <3

Yellow Diamond raises herself from her throne gracefully, her long yellow robe billowing behind her and the flawlessly polished diamond sparkling in the bright yellow light. With her usual stern, ice cold stare, she gazes down onto her most loyal servant who is deeply bowing before her8, the way she likes her subjects to show her their servility. 

„Have you assembled the gems I have deemed capable enough to accomplish you on performing the secret mission?“

„Yes, my Diamond.“ The reply comes smoothly from the gem below. His voice is steady and he doesn’t lift his head, having served her for over five hundred years made him very skilled in court manners.

„Let them come before me!“ She commands, raising her voice. The guards, two yellow Topaz in shining gold armor, guide three gems into the gigantic, magnificently decorated room. They immediately fall onto their knees as well.

„Leave, guards, and lock the door!“ She orders and the heavy doors closes loudly, the echo of the sound followed by thick, heavy silence. 

„I, Yellow Diamond, ruler of largest realm of Homeworld, send you on an exceedingly important mission to Planet Earth. Before I reveal the actual task, I have one condition. What has been said in this room is not to be mentioned to any other gem, not even your Diamond. Pink and Blue Diamond are not to know about my plans. If they try to force you, you will rather die than disclose the information you received from me. Do you vow not to leak any information to others?“

„Yes, my Diamond.“

„Very well. Remember, if you disobey me, you will be sentenced to death or worse. Your mission is to capture the gems which are currently living on earth and bring them back to Homeworld. I don’t want you to kill them and I want their gems fully intact and unbroken. Preferably I would like them retreated in their gems, but that is your choice. You will use a secret teleport pad that has been a secret only known by me and my closest servants. Do you understand?“

„Yes, my Diamond.“

„Then go and bring me the earth gems!“

The four gems stand up and bow again before leaving Yellow Diamond’s halls. They leave the castle and step out into the cold, windy exterior of Homeworld. They pull their sand colored cloaks tighter around their bodies and start to trod down a steep and rocky path down the mountain the castle was built on. 

The path becomes more and more difficult and thin as they move on, the gaps between the gems getting bigger and bigger with every step. 

„Don’t fall behind, Apatite!“ The leader of the group hisses angrily towards the chubby little gem who has fallen behind very much. His voice has a slight nasal tone in it, but it does’t prevent him from sounding intimidating. „We have to be quick. Don’t make me force you to walk faster.“

„Cat’s Eye, don’t be so harsh on him! His legs are so much shorter than ours. It’s not his fault he was made this way. It’s, like, –

„Hold your mouth shut Rubellite. My legs are perfectly fine and I won’T LET YOU INSULT THEM.“ The small light blue gem literally screeches.

„Could you _please_ shut up?! If we are caught and our motives are found out, Yellow Diamond is going to kill all of us and I still have plans to carry out and things to do in my life.“

„Like what, killing some more gems? Your weird cycles of revenge with others? Your life really has no reason and it totally messed up.“

„None of your business Charoite. Now everybody quiet we’re almost there.“

In front of them, there is a small cave in the mountainside, shielding the gems from the biting wind and rain that has started falling. On the inside, there are ancient runes carved into the rough stone, pulsing with magic energy. 

Their leader steps forward and places the palms of his yellow gloved hands against the runes, mumbling a long and complicated magic spell in a foreign language none of the others understands. Blue fire races down his arms into the stone, letting the runes shine in a bright white light. The earth beneath the gems shakes slightly and with a rumble, the stone wall crumbles to the ground, leading to a hidden pathway illuminated by torches on the walls. It winds down deeply into the mountain.

As soon as every member of the group has stepped beyond the small pile of stones, they magically rebuild themselves, blocking the only exit and entrance and completely shutting out the noises of the storm outside. 

Each of them takes a torch and they walk down the path, the road twisting and turning occasionally. After what felt like more than a hour of walking, they reach a large room carved into the stone. It is high and dome-shaped and nearly undecorated, and the white crystal of a  single teleport pad is sparkling in it’s center, reflecting the light of the torches onto the ceiling in bright rainbow colored spots. 

„This is the hidden pad my diamond was talking about. It leads to a halfway intact teleport pad on earth the earth gems apparently don’t know of. These gems have the ability to regenerate themselves over time and Yellow Diamond has gotten weak signals from this crystal over time. We should be able to travel safely with it.“

„Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.“

A bright blending white light engulfs them as they get sucked into an other universe. It feels as if their insides were trying to leave the body through their mouths. Everyone gasps surprisedly, even Cat’s Eye. None of them has ever left Homeworld before let alone used a teleport pad and the feeling is something you have to get used to first.

The journey to earth only takes about thirty seconds, but it is incredibly hard to stay in the bright  tube of light and it takes all their concentration. Apatite accidentally almost leaves it twice and when they arrive on the cluster of earth teleport pads abruptly without warning, they all fall to the ground hard, panting and groaning

„Wow, we _really_ look like the intimidating evil gems from Homeworld we should actually be. Especially you, Cat’s Eye.“ Charoite laughs and brushes the dust off her cloak. He just scoffs and lifts his head.

„Wait everyone! I can feel gem presence, like really near!“ Rubellite calls out, closing her eyes and holding two fingers to her temple. „It’s only a mile away!“

„Then let’s hurry and get them. I think we have frightened a herd of weird earth animals away. Maybe they are attacking them. We have to be quick, maybe they are going to kill one and we don’t want that to happen!“

The group of four sets off and Rubellite takes the lead, dashing off into the woods. Screeching and fighting sounds sound from the distance and Cat’s Eye takes the lead, interest shining in his single eye and a grin so wide his sharp teeth are showing spreading across his face.

„Jesus, nooooo.“ Charoite groans. „Please don’t tell me you–

„This is going to be _so_ interesting! I can’t _wait_ so see the poor fools!“ Cat’s Eye laughs and speeds up a little more. 

„Wait, we are losing Apatite for like, the fifth time. Slow down a little everyone!“

„God dammit, you are so _useless_.“ The yellow gem groans but still slows down. „What have ever I done to be stuck with you three.“ He grumbles quietly but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

„Hmm, maybe committed every possible crime that can be committed?“ Charoite suggests. 

They reach a clearing where the noise is the loudest. Five gems are taking on three weird specimen of earth beast, the three younger ones fighting one and two older black ones holding against two at the same time, a fourth one lingers at the other end of the clearing, waiting to join in. 

The Homeworld gems fall silent and duck behind the bushes surrounding the clearing. 

„Interseting…“ The leader mutters and Charoite notices the way his eyes follow the light blue gem. 

„Like what you see, hmm? Isn’t he a bit young?“ She winks suggestively and the Cat’s Eye just scoffs, baring his fangs, but of course she doesn’t miss the slight twitch of his eyelid. „Nonsense. It’s because that Moonstone isn’t fully gem.“

„What.“

„Yes, they're bodies aren’t holograms with mass, they are kinda massy.“ Rubellite chimes in, closing her eyes again and sensing further. „I would say they are like, about one quarter human.“

„How is that possible? Now I want them dead EVEN MORE! SUCH CRIME! BURN THEM SLOWLY!“ Apatite yells and angrily shakes his tiny fists, his massive white hair swaying dangerously. Luckily his voice is drowned by the ear piercing screech of the beast the three younger gems have defeated. The young Moonstone has his light blue sword rammed into it’s spine, his face splattered with blood and a determined look.

Cat’s eyes narrow a little (Charoite cackles evilly) but snap open when the two elder gems’ –who are now surrounded by three beasts– hands connect and they start performing a fusion dance. Rubellite gasps and covers her mouth with a white gloved hand.

„What on Homeworld are they doing?“ Cat’s Eye hisses. „The are completely different gems, they shouldn’t fuse! An Obsidian and a … What is that even? A Moissanite or what? I can’t even distinguish that idiot’s gem!“ 

In Homeworld, fusion between different gems is strictly prohibited and is punished with shattering the guilty gems. It is like a number one crime in the Diamond kingdoms.

„Guys look at _that_ fusion.“ Rubellite gasps and points her finger at the giant black fusion. It is huge and powerful and immensely strong, but it is a bit out of control as it seems. It violently kills the beasts and becomes unstable until it breaks apart, but at least it has done it’s job. 

„Okay guys, I’m bored let’s go.“ Cat’s Eye declares, turnings around and crawls into the opposite direction.

„What?! This is the perfect situation to take them hostage! There is no better time than now! What has gotten into you?“ Apatite complains but the leader just smiles. 

„I have other plans for them. I want to play with them a little, see how much terror they can handle, you know? This will be fun! Oh yeah, and we should probably start using out code names. Maybe the know us or something. Two of them were Homeworld gems once after all.“ The yellow gem smiles widely and runs off. 

The rest of the group just mumbles curses under their breath and trot after him. After all, they don’t want to upset him, a Cat’s Eye in rage could easily kill them all at once.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

The ride home is not as bad as the one before. But since they now have a ton of razor sharp claws and beaks in the trunk and Wendy still drives like she didn’t know which pedal is which and potential tools with the sharpness to murder an elephant are evilly flinging themselves onto the back seats every five minutes, it might have even been just as bad as the first one, if not even worse.

Arriving at the Shack, they find Soos cleaning the parking lot of the tourist trap, inefficiently swiping some leaves and dirt back and forth while humming a simple tune in all the wrong notes. He lazily greets them with one hand doing a salute, leaning against the broom casually. 

Normally, he would come early in the morning to prepare the fake attractions –or quickly craft some last minute– and clean up for the tourists, get some fixing done and pretend doing some kind of work until Stan would allow him to have lunch break. 

Sometimes, however, there are days when the Mystery Shack only opens around noon or not at all. Those are the days Stan and Ford head out for missions. The tourists sometimes get a little grumpy and mad when they arrive in their busses to find their guide is not gonna be there until afternoon, but in the last few years, Dipper has gotten really good at taking over Grunkle Stan’s role as a tourist trap guide who can enthuse people for attractions so fake, uncreative and poorly crafted they are ironically hilarious.

When the group of gems steps out of the car –partly energetically skipping and partly groaning and staggering– Dipper can see the busses overflowing with masses of tourists that have gathered in the driveway of the Shack. They are waving enthusiastically and wildly taking pictures of the not human gems. As always, they try to get a picture of the Pines family as if they had to trade it in later in exchange for their wives to live.

Although they all are stared and gaped at –which Dipper can fully understand, he would stare too if a bunch of aliens started a family business– he doesn’t wave or smile, he just turns his gaze away from the fascinated tourists and looks to the ground. He might be used to staring, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. 

Finally making it into the gift shop and shutting the door, he can hear Stan entertaining his costumers outside with the usual routine (we put the fun in no refunds and so on) like he hasn’t been just fighting and fusing into a total maniac half an hour ago.

He sighs and stretches, the aching muscles in his left leg protesting, sending a strike of pain up to his butt. He groans and stumbles into the kitchen, flopping down unceremoniously onto his usual chair. The others follow and soon everybody is comfily sitting around the rough wooden table in silence, their heads and almost all limbs propped onto the table, needing the support. 

„And that’s why I _haaaate_ setting out in the morning, guys.“ Wendy mutters into the wood and nuzzles her forehead deeper into her crossed arms. „I mean it’s good for nothing, you're only tired the rest of the day but not tired enough to actually want to go to sleep and you get like, really hungry. Why do I even feel hunger if I’m a gem? This is so confusing my people. Soos, enlighten me _please_. I don't think I can continue to live on if I don’t have a halfway reasonable answer for that.“

Soos just shrugs and opens the freezer and rummages through it until he finds two long forgotten pizzas in the darker corners of the fridge. „Don’t know dude. Sometimes a gem’s just gotta eat. It is one of the many unresolved questions of our short, not relevant lives. Wait, actually we live pretty long now that I think about it.“

„At least you don’t have to. Actually _having_ to eat really sucks sometimes. It tears holes into your stomach and you get all weak and tired and lifeless if you don’t. Being quarter human is so weird.“ Mabel sighs theatrically and hugs Waddles to her chest. He must have smelled them coming back or something. Dipper swears that pig could pick up his beloved ‚MayMay‘s‘ scent and track her down across the whole state like a freaking hunting dog. 

„Haha yeah, it really is really lame sometimes. AW MAN, not pizza again, Soos! Boo!“ Wendy protests and slams both of her fists down onto the table when she sees Soos slam the oven door shut, letting the glasses clang against each other and the cutlery clatter. „I mean, come on! The Shack is like, running really well, can’t we eat something else, like, some meat or I don’t know, just something else! This cheap ass pizza is freaking me out!“

„Deal with it, dogg. There ain’t nobody in this household who can actually cook and I am so _not_ gonna open that fridge or oven again, dude. A man has his limits, Wendy, and sometimes you gotta learn to respect that.“

„Oh whatever Soos.“ Wendy smiles, leans back in her chair and starts playing with a thick strand of her bright red hair.

„Aw kids, I am _so_ glad you guys are making the food, I really need some rest and peace right now. Do you know how _exhausting_ the dumbness of tourists can be? Can you somehow comprehend my endless cycle of suffering?“ Stan comes barreling into the small kitchen, claiming the next best chair next to Wendy. 

„Mr. Pines, pretty much all of us work here all day and often even more than you do.“

„Come on, don’t say stuff that’s not true, Wendy, it breaks my heart to see you lying like this!“

„No bickering, dudes, the pizza’s gonna be upset.“ Soos chimes in.

„Thank god you made pizza, Soos, you're an angel! I’m practically starving. Can’t you make the heaty thingy go faster?“

„It’s an oven.“ Dipper groans. „Seriously, how the hell did you even survive back in Homeworld? I always thought technology was really advanced there.“

„Okay, yeah, I never knew nothing about technology of any sorts, but I lived in… let’s say, higher standards, so I didn’t really have to do anything. The rest Ford always did for me. Or _helped_ me to do. It’s not like I was exploiting him or anything, for your clarification, he did it it out of his own free will.“ 

„That explains a lot.“

„So, Soos, how are you and Melody doing? How is she?“ Mabel asks, her eyes shining with anticipation.

„Well… yeah. You know, there is this thing I’ve been wanting to tell you but never found the right timing to and stuff, but now I think I’m gonna spill the beans, dudes, beware. Okay actually this really isn’t such a big deal, but my Pancake and I am gonna move together. Like, in an actual apartment here in Gravity Falls. Like, together. Like, on our own.“

And everybody at the table is gaping at the Sphene. Wendy and Stan even sniff and suppress some tears. 

„Tell me what I heard was real and my hearing aid isn’t being a moody little princess again, Wendy.“

„Mr. Pines, just enjoy the moment. Our Soos is growing up. Even the last child has finally left the nest now. I couldn’t be more proud.“

„This is awesome! Melody is coming to Gravity Falls? Does that mean we can get to see her more often now?“ Mabel and Dipper ask in unison. 

„Yeah, that’s kinda what moving to Gravity Falls means.“

The oven timer rings and Soos seizes the opportunity to jump up from his chair and quickly rush to get the pizzas out of the oven. The gems immediately pounce on the food, chattering about this and that, tell Soos about their mission, Dipper pointing out all the facts ‚that mattered‘ and Mabel waving a little to enthusiastically with her slice of pizza, letting tomato get everywhere.

When they all finish and just sit there, a slice still left over, Dipper decides to bring it down to Ford who has retreated into the secret basement. He has never been one for company and prefers to be along, but still Dipper likes to seek out the older gems presence. Grunkle Ford is very smart and intelligent and has a lot of knowledge varying from the long history of Homeworld coined by war over astronomy of several universes to most advanced gem technology. 

When Dipper checks the first floor of the basement and finds the Obsidian hunched over his wooden desk, tinkering around with a complicated looking metal object. Unsure if it is okay to disturb him or if it was wiser to just leave, the young gem just awkwardly stays standing in front of the elevator. 

„No need to just stand there, come closer, Dipper. What brings you here?“ Ford asks, not looking up from his project. 

„I, uh, was just bringing you some food… I know you usually don’t eat but I thought you might want some anyway…“ He says not without jumping a little and scratching the back of his head nervously. „Should I leave or is it okay if I stay here a bit and watch?“

„Of course, thank you, this project is nothing important. It’s just something that I have come up with recently, I am not really sure if it will work.“

„What does it do?“ Dipper pulls a chair near Grunkle Ford and sits down next to him. 

„You surely remember the device I had on me when we were on our mission earlier? That device is constructed to report if any higher amount of anomaly is occurring around the position it is activated in. But anomaly here on earth are both gem activities as well as the activity of supernatural beings like strange deformed earth animals.“

„So you’re working on something that can detect activity of the supernatural or other gems individually. But what is that good for? All this time you were totally satisfied with the technology you used on that device… So why change it now? Did something happen yesterday?“

„Hmmm… Since you are no kid anymore, I will tell you, but remember, this is only speculation and the likelihood of this theory to be true is not exactly high.“ Grunkle Ford exhales and puts the metal and screwdriver away and turns his office chair so he can face Dipper, who has straightened his back and is already totally spellbound, excited to hear.

„See, Dipper, when we fought the lion-beats yesterday, my device showed a unusually high amplitude, which of course is normal when a large number of monsters attacks us. But the beasts weren’t gems, they were just normal earth beings. Now, when we have the supernatural compared to gems, monsters who are gems send out a lot more signals when they show activity. Supernatural earth animals send out far less. It is unusual for wild earth animals to send out so many signals.“

„So what you're saying is that… the creatures yesterday weren’t the ones causing the signal? Maybe the lion-bears weren't the only opponents we had to defeat?“ Dipper says slowly, a thoughtful expression crosses his face.

„That is one option. Is is very possible that there were other monsters lurking around somewhere we weren't aware of, but I think that is very unlikely. You might have noticed that the signal was only transmitted for a very short time. It just stopped and I didn't even have to turn the device off to block out the sound. It seems like there was some kind of sudden burst of activity somewhere near that location.“

„Oh my god, are you saying–

„Yes, my theory is that one of the main teleport pads connecting Homeworld and earth has somehow been repaired or that there is a way to use it although Stanley and I destroyed them all beyond repair. Anyway, like I was saying, I am not very sure about this and it is probably not true, but still, I am building this device that can solely detect gem activity so we can be totally sure. It will show us if a teleport pad was used.“

„Why would it be so bad if gems from Homeworld came to earth? I don’t understand, I thought we had some kind of peace since our mother led the rebellion against Black Diamond and banished him from Homeworld after he had done so much harm to the Homeworld kingdom?“

„Indeed, It wouldn’t be much of a problem for Wendy and the two of you, but Stanley and I, as you know, have also been banned from Homeworld when we were younger. We were banished because we openly showed our disapproval of Yellow and Black Diamonds horrible ruling and joined the rebellion. The rebellion never won, it was quite the opposite, they lost a lot of gems and almost all of them have been banished to different galaxies and planets. The problem however is, that now, Yellow Diamond is still ruling a great part of Homeworld and she probably wants to force us to come back so that we can face our judgement. She is an ice cold, fearsome evil gem and she would probably have us sentenced to death is she ever found us because the rebellion stopped her from carrying out her master plan to obtain rulership over entire Homeworld.“

„That sounds really bad! But… What about Soos? Why did he leave Homeworld?“

„He fled from Homeworld a few years after you were born, but he never told us why… He will tell us when the time is ready, I think.“

Dipper nods slowly, his head propped onto his hand. „But what are the other options? The Homeworld theory is the only think making sense to me, now that you mentioned it.“

„Well, next to the forest we were fighting in, there is a gem kindergarden. In fact, it was the kindergarden where Wendy was made. When a gem hatches, it sets free a lot of energy and that burst could have caused the signal. It seemed very much deserted and we were almost totally sure there wouldn’t be any gems hatching anymore when we visited it, but you can never be sure with kindergartens, they are quite fickle little things.“

„Ugh, my head hurts. Let’s hope it was just some very strong gem beasts. It would be the easiest solution. I think I am going to go upstairs, maybe watch some Duct-Tective or something. Bye!“ Dipper stretches and stands up from his chair. „But what are we going to do about it?“

„Why don’t we take a look at the teleport pads tomorrow and see if everything is alright?“ Ford asks and a wide grin splits Dipper’s face. 

„You really mean it?“ He says. „With everybody coming along? Even Soos?“ 

„Yes. I think It would be a very good idea since you and Mabel did so well today.“

„Haha, this is great! I’m gonna tell the others. Grunkle Stan’s going to be furious!“

He rushes into the elevator and spreads the news to his family. Stan complains and curses, Mabel squeals, Soos and Wendy cheer and they settle down to watch some TV until it gets dark and the twins get tired. 

They say goodnight and retreat into their rooms, change into sleeping clothes and fall asleep, excited for the next day.

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Dipper is standing in a dark room, a single candle flickering in the middle, illuminating a small radius of floor around it. Dipper instinctively moves towards it and picks it up. The glass containing it is warm against his palms and then it comes to him: This isn’t just a normal dream. He can feel the warmth against his hands so clearly the feeling could be in real life. Is this lucid dreaming? But how? He has never trained it or anything and without training they only occur very rarely.

He walks around a little, curiosity getting the better of him. The floor of the room is uncomfortable sticky against his shoes, the smacking sound echoing back and forth from walls hidden in the dark. He frowns his nose when a salty, familiar smell fills his nostrils, but he can’t quite identify it since he is dreaming after all.

He walks until he feels something splash against his calves and his feet. Quickly taking a step back from the puddle, he lowers the candle to inspect the fluid. His eyes widen in shock when he sees that both of them are covered in bright crimson red blood, the sticky substance slowly running into his shoes. He slaps a hand in front of his mouth to prevent any disgusted sounds coming out of it. 

Where is he and why? 

A drop of sticky liquid, probably also blood, splashes onto his forehead, slowly trickling down the side of his nose. His head whips up immediately, fear coursing through his body, paralyzing him slowly like ice spreading through his body. With trembling hands, he slowly lifts the light higher, afraid what he will see. 

The sight of them member of his family dangling from the ceiling with their throats cut open, their eyes open and blood seeping out of their opened mouths and wounds makes Dipper scream in horror, scream and scream until his throat is raw and burning. The light slips out of his hands, the glass shattering on the floor, but there is a new light coming out of nowhere, illuminating the whole room. Their feet are tied together with a rope and they are tied to the ceiling as if they were pieces of pork. The walls are caked with thick, viscous blood, dripping into puddles on the floor which turn into rapid rivers on Dipper’s left and right, organs swimming and splashing in them like fish. 

Bile rises up in his throat, and he turns to the side, throwing up what he has eaten before. 

„Why, Dipper?“ A  sobbing faint voice whispers to his right, so quiet he almost overheard it. „Why did you let this happen to me? To us?“

Mabel’s corpse has her lifeless red eyes on him, blood now dripping out of them too. Dipper screams and whimpers again, shielding his eyes with his hands.

He doesn't want to see this. He only has to curl up into a tight ball and wait until he wakes up and then everything will be alright. This is only a dream, this is not reality. This has never happened. This is not real, this is not real, this is not real. 

But why is he dreaming it then? Why is this affecting him this much?

„Why are you looking away, Dipper? You can’t just turn away from the things you’ve done and pretend they have never happened. That’s not how it works, Dipper. ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?“ Mabel’s voice screams and deepens beyond recognition. Dipper’s hands are torn away from his eyes by an invisible force and he tries to squeeze them shut, he can’t. 

He doesn’t want to see this. It is not real but he doesn’t want to keep his eyes on the cadavers of the most important people in his life. Tears are welling up in his eyes, and he is thankful that his vision becomes a little blurry. 

„Why are you always so weak and useless, Dipper? Why do you always have to mess things up?“ Grunkle Stan’s hoarse voice shouts next. „I am very disappointed of you, I don’t think I could ever look you in the eyes again.“ 

„I thought you were cleverer than this. Everything I taught you was useless, all the hours I’ve spend  passing my knowledge on to you were a waste of time.“ Ford says, disapproval in his voice.

„Dude, I would have expected you to stab me in the back like this.“ Wendy sobs.

„What did you do, dogg? I never thought you would tread your best friend like this. Weren’t we always best buds? You know what, Dipper? It’s over. No best bros anymore.“

Their talking turns into a chant and their contours merging into one large figure. The ground under Dipper’s feet breaks away and he screaming falls into the bottomless darkness. The silhouette turns into a huge figure, two large purple gems gleaming on her forehead and long violet hair billowing around her. He immediately stops screaming, everything becomes painfully silent. 

The giant woman looks down onto him, her purple eyes full of familiar warmth and love. Suddenly, Dipper can feel wetness on his cheeks, tears are streaming down them. „Mo…ther?“ He whispers and all he wishes for at that moment is to burry himself into her somehow, hide from all the horrible things in this dream.

He slowly floats towards her again, she is pulling him in like a maelstrom, and he just drops all defenses and all of his caution. When he is just about to touch her, she opens her mouth widely and screams, grubs and cockroaches start tumbling out, her form melting into bloody goo. Her pained screams mingle with Dipper’s horrified ones as they both tumble into the darkness.

Dipper wakes up with a proper dose of adrenaline coursing through his body, panting hard and sweating. What on earth was that? That was no normal dream, he is sure. Was it a glimpse into the future? No, he refuses to believe that. Something like that would never happen.

He groans loudly and flops back onto his bed. The exhausted sound echoes back from the room that has been Ford’s a while ago. Since he and Mabel have been getting older over the time, they have decided to sleep in separate rooms this year. Dipper still has a majority of his clothing in Mabel’s room though. 

Dipper rolls over onto his belly and props his head onto his hands. There is no way he can go back to sleep and the bright red letter on his alarm show him it quarter past three in the morning. Sighing, he lets his head fall back into the pillow. He needs to go back to sleep if he wants to be fit tomorrow, but he doesn’t want to be haunted by such a terrible nightmare again. But it is not very likely that he will have an other dream like that…

Suddenly, he spots a shadow flickering in front of his window out of the corner of his eye, followed by the faintest of laughters. He jumps out of his bed as fast as he can and sprints to the window. He opens it wide and peeks out into the darkness illuminated by the half moon. But there is nothing. The laughter is also gone, the only sound is the crickets chirping faintly in the woods.

Sighing again, Dipper closes the window again and lays down onto his bed once more. 

He could swear he saw something! There even was a flash of yellow in that shadow! 

No, he is imagining things. There was no shadow, it was just an after-effect of the nightmare. 

But he saw it with his own eyes! His eyes wouldn’t betray him, would they?

Then what about the laughter? Did he imagine that too? There is no way something like that can be imagined.

There was nothing. Deal with it.

The inner debate makes him sleepy and before he knows it, he has fallen into a peaceful deep slumber. 

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

„Okay everybody into the car, I’m driving, kiddies on the backseats, Soos into the trunk.“ Grunkle Stan says and slams the door of the Shack shut behind him and quickly scribbles a note that says that tours will only begin this afternoon due to urgent matters.

They all squeeze into the rusty-but-trusty red car and Stan drives them to the main teleport pads. They are about a mile away from the clearing so the car ride wasn’t long enough for Soos to suffocate. 

When they arrive, Ford immediately jumps out of the car and presses several buttons on the device he had been working on yesterday. Looks like he finished it last night. He had plenty of time after all. He is the only one of the gems who actually lives like a gem; He rarely eats and doesn't sleep at all.

„Dudes, you really have to keep less stuff in the trunk, its taking away all the space. Also a fancy beak kinda tried to behead me but it’s okay.“ Soos says when Stan finally frees him from the trunk. 

They walk up to the gleaming white crystals on top of a small green hill, the shattered fragments sparkling in all colors of the rainbow. Ford is already rushes around them, inspecting every Splitter individually, scanning them with his device. He mutters something about him and Stan not having been there for ages.

Stan and the younger gems look out for any kind of danger.

„How’d you sleep, brobro?“ Mabel asks next to him, dangerously balancing on one edge of one Shard sticking out of the ground.

„Not really well. Had some nightmares.“ Dipper says, trying not to shudder at the memory. 

„No way.“ Mabel gasps and almost loses her balance. „Me too! But it was no regular nightmare where you die and stuff but don’t really feel it, It was something completely different.“

Dipper’s mouth drops open. „Really? Oh my god. This can’t be coincidence! Mine was the same! What do you think it was?“

„Don’t know. The only thing I know is that it didn’t feel natural and it was horrible!“

„I think it was caused by something. Maybe somebody wants to harm us? I even saw a shadow in front of my window after I woke up!“ Dipper starts, pacing around on the crystal he is standing on and mabel opens her mouth as if to contribute something to the conversation.

„Everybody come here quick!“ Ford’s voice interrupts his thoughts, and the twins join the others already standing around Grunkle Ford who is looking at a smaller pad with concern. 

They have gathered around a teleport pad so small it is only slightly bigger than the one they have at home in Grunkle Ford’s lab. It is almost completely healed, a small crack in the middle remains but still functional. 

„We haven’t been here for way to long, Stanley.“ Ford says and Grunkle Stan nods. „These Crystals have the ability to heal themselves… It looks like we didn’t destroy this one enough and it managed to heal back. It looks like it is a secret teleport pad, do you know any about it?“

Stan inspects it closely, leans closer and traces the polish sides with his hands. His eyes widen as he stands up and his brass knuckles appear out of the two Moissanites on the back of his hands. He angrily brings one down with full force, rage burning in his eyes. It cracks in five pieces, but he brings the other one down again for good measure. 

„Stanley, what’s wrong?“ Ford shouts over the cracking sound. 

„Yellow Diamond.“

„What?“

„The teleport pad belongs to Yellow Diamond. I am so going to kill her pitiful servants she sent on this planet. They will have their gems shattered quicker than they can report finding us.“ Stan bites through gritted teeth and walks away, fuming.

„What’s wrong with the guy, Mr. Pines? Why is he so upset?“

„Well… Yellow Diamond was the reason Stanley was banished from Homeworld because she betrayed him. They used to work together, but she sold him out. She is a heartless, ice cold evil ruler and she is the most powerful Diamond in the Diamond rulership of Homeworld. Apparently Stanley knew about this secret teleport pad so he could recognize it.“

„Does that mean that there probably are gems under Yellow Diamonds on this earth? Dude, please don’t say this is what’s happening, I think I’m hyperventilating.“ Soos interrupts him.

„Yes, that is why I was about to say. And they are probably after Stanley and me.“ Ford sighs. 

„Looks like the next weeks are going to be the worst.“ Wendy groans, pulling a grumpy face. „Are the gems under Yellow D. powerful or are they just mediocre?“

„I have never met a lot of her servants since I was made for Black Diamond, but I know her and she would never let a servant exist if he was is weak.“

„Well damn. We better start training so we at least stand a chance against them."


	3. ∆ Chapter 3 ∆

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I have arisen from the dead! 
> 
> I am so sorry I have kept you waiting for so long, but school has been killing me lately. I am taking a French test that will get me a certificate and I had to work my ass off for it like every day... You know how it is :P (I am having the test tomorrow and on Monday, I'm super nervous!)
> 
> Anyway, this chapter was written in quite a hurry and (again) I am not 100% satisfied about how it turned out. Whelp. The next one will be better, I swear ;)
> 
> [Also, a late happy 413 (and ending of the webcomic, sadly) for all the Homestucks out there. (Did you all wear your orange ribbons???) The last Upd8 tore me apart ;( ]
> 
> ENJOY!
> 
> (And kinda sorry for the crappy ending of the chap)

„Hiyaaa! Mabel kick!“ Mabel yells when she flings herself towards Soos. He catches her foot easily and pushes her away, sending her flying backwards. She lands on the ground in one fluid motion and charges again, aiming her fist for his side. He easily blocks it and the next blows too and Mabel soon stops with a frustrated groan, throwing her hands into the air.

„This is stupid, Soos. I am never going to be good at hand-to-hand combat. It’s useless.“ She sighs and lets her laser gun appear in her hands instead. „Why can’t I just practice with my gun? It’s so much more fun.“ She quickly aims and fires, the laser blasting away the tip of a pine tree. 

„See?“

„But Mabel, you have to improve in the things you aren’t good in if you want to become a good fighter.“ Soos says. „How about we do some dodging?“ He suggests and a second later there is a huge Morning Star in his hands. 

„Okay, why not.“ Mabel shrugs and lets her laser gun vanish with a soft poof. Soos flings the pitch black spiky ball at her and Mabel rapidly dives to the ground but quickly has to jump when the Morning Star comes flying at her with a very high speed concerning the weight of the weapon. 

„Hey, Soos! This is really fun!“ The Sunstone giggles and arches her body backwards to prevent the spike ball from slicing her stomach open. She avoids an other five strikes when a smile spreads across her face and her earlier a little stiff dodges become a lot more fluid and start to resemble a dance rather than the clumsy staggering around.

Her flow is interrupted when she sees a shadow scurries between the trees behind her out of the corner of her eye. Her breath quickens and her heart almost stops, and she quickly turns around to verify herself it was just a fantasy or an animal and not actually somebody lurking in the darkness of the woods. 

Oh not that again. Mabel, stop seeing things. There is nothing.

Ever since she had that horrifying dream she had become crazy paranoid, she started seeing shadows and hearing sounds everywhere; forms and silhouettes in the darker corners at day, always out of the corner of her eye, vanishing into familiar furniture and wooden floors when she turns around. In the night of her dream when she had lied awake for hours, the Shack seemed to moan and groan a lot more frequently than it has before, the sounds sending shivers down her back. 

Although she knows everything she sees and hears is probably just her imagination, it scares her and drives her crazy anyway. She doesn't want to constantly have the feeling of being watched of followed by something or somebody. Also not knowing what is causing this angsty behavior is not making things better. She is supposed to only think of nice and positive things that make her happy!

Especially the dream she had last night just doesn’t want to go out of her head. It keeps running around in her brain as if it wanted to mock her and dampening her mood constantly. It wouldn’t be a problem if Mabel actually ever had nightmares. But she doesn’t. Ever. She knows Dipper often had nightmares when he was younger and still occasionally has some, but she was the one of the twins who was spared of bad dreams.

Her very first nightmare was horrible. She doesn’t know if that is what a regular nightmare is like or if it is worse or not so bad, but she never wants to experience anything similar in her dreams again. She wants them to be filled with bright colorful worlds with talking animals and rivers of candy instead of blood and her dead loved ones dangling from the ceiling. If all nightmares were like this, what did Dipper have gong through all his life? It must have been horrible!

The memory of the dream lets bile rise into her throat and goosebumps covering her arms. No, she definitely won’t go through that again. 

There! Wasn't there just an other shadow lurking behind that rock? Mabel spins around again but this time she is suddenly pulled out of her thoughts because there is a bright green light exploding right next to her head. 

„Woah, Mabel, watch out a bit, dude, I almost hit you there.“ Soos says after he let his weapon disappear last minute before it hit the young Sunstone. „Everything alright with you, girl? You look kinda distracted…“ 

„It’s okay, Soos, I just… didn’t sleep very well last night and I’m a little bit tired, that’s all.“ Mabel smiles and lets her gun appear again. „Maybe I’m just gonna fire some shots and rest of something… You go and train with Wendy… I think Dipper is a bit tired too.“

„Sounds good to me.“ Soos just shrugs and walks off to the place Wendy is battling Dipper in an awkward sword fight with her axe. Soos delivers them the news and a few seconds later Dipper plops down next to Mabel onto the soft grassy ground. 

„Hey.“ He greets her with a gentle smile, plucks a handful of grass out of the ground. „Hey.“ Mabel mumbles back and hugs her knees to her chest, depositing her head on top of them. 

„Soos told me you were distracted… Wanna talk about yesterday night?“

„Yeah. I’ve actually wanted to talk about it with you right after I woke up, but I was too scared to leave my bed, the Shack was doing really scaring noises! And at the teleport pads there was all that ruckus about Homeworld gems and everything…“ Mabel sighs.

„Hmmm, I know. I know you don’t have nightmares often, so I really wanted to tell you that nightmares usually aren’t that bad, you don’t even feel bodily pain and the experiences aren’t nearly as shocking. Just for your information.“

„Oh okay. I already thought about that. It would probably be really bad if all of your dreams would be like that… And this one is driving me crazy, Dipper! I keep seeing and hearing creepy things everywhere, all I can think about is the shadows hiding around in the Shack and the garden watching me silently and the noises a house shouldn’t be able to produce! I am getting totally paranoid and I don’t want to go to sleep ever again! I don’t think I can take an other dream like that again!“ Mabel complains, not noticing her voice has risen towards the end of her ramble.

„Shh, Mabel, I really don’t wan the others finding out that we are having wears dreams and stuff. But yeah, I can understand. I kind of have the feeling I an watched and my every movement is being seen by somebody. Don’t you think it’s weird? The gems from homeworld appear and suddenly there is such a change in out lives? But what really makes me think is why Grunkle Stan, Ford and Soos didn’t dream anything weird. I mean, they are actually the gems that fled of were banished to earth and not us.“

„Now that you say it, I also think it is possible that the Homeworld gems are the ones that caused the nightmares… But how? Through magic? But you have to be a very powerful gem to learn magic and it takes a very ling time to learn it… Does that mean they have sent an incredible strong and old gem to our world? But that would be really bad!“

„As far as I know, there is magic that can make you sleep and ensure you have peaceful dreams, so it is plausible there are also ones making them bad… but how are we going to prevent the gem from intervening in our dreams again if we go to sleep today? I don’t want to go though that same procedure again.“

„Hmmmm. Maybeee… Did yours also start in a dark room with a light in the center of it?“ Mabel asks curiously, folding her legs under her body again and leaning forward. 

„Yes, I held it up to illuminate it… which turned out to he a huge mistake.“   
„What if… when we dream the same thing today and there is a light again, we just don’t take it and leave it on the ground instead? Maybe it would irritate the gem causing all this and he will show himself!“

„But what if not? What if you would just keep standing there in the dark for ever and nothing happened? What if the dream just goes on and the light would grow without you touching it anyway?“ Dipper replies, pulling our more moss and grass.

„I think we should give it a try. I mean, what should we do instead? Endure the same stuff again? Nope Nope Nope Nope.“

„Fiiiine, but how are we going to do it? I think it would be kind of useless if both of us are sleeping at the same time… One should fall asleep while the other watches over him of her in case the other starts making noises that suggest he is having a nightmare. Than he can wake the other up!“

„Sounds like a plan, Dippingsauce.“

„Yeah. But until evening comes, let’s get some training done, the Homeworld gems aren’t going to fight themselves!“

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

The group of four Homeworld gems plops down onto the cold, rocky and uncomfortable ground of a cave their leader has led them to. 

„Jesus I am so not staying here in this hell hole. Oh My god what was that in the corner? An animal? I can’t take this!“ 

„Will you just shut up, Pacifica.“ The yellow gem growls, securing the entrance with a magic spell. A light blue almost translucent barrier shields them from the wind and cold air coming with the evening. „The codename suits you. Fits your… snobby attitude.“

„Like your’s is any better, Bill. Sounds like an Asshole. Oh wait, you are an asshole. Look, It fits you perfectly!“ The Charoite shoots back, grinning with satisfaction when Bill shoots her a dirty look. „Yours beside, I really love them! It makes us kinda special, don’t you think? It’s a completely different feeling than always being called by your gem name. I mean, there are other Charoites out there and not having my own name kinda makes me feel sad.“ She sighs, looking at the others expectantly. 

„Whatever. I don’t care.“ The Apatite growls and crosses his short arms over his chest. 

„I really like them too! They are so cute! I can’t get enough of Apatite’s. Gideon sounds so adorable, just look at you, Lil’ Gideon~“ Rubellite coos and pinches Gideon’s cheeks. He shrieks in protest and tries to slap the pink gem with his tiny hands and Pacifica bursts out laughing.

„Could you just please stop, it is annoying.“ Bill groans and turns around, pinching the bridge of his nose while letting air through it. „Giffany, stop pinching Gideon, and Pacifica, stop laughing. We are going to be discovered if you don’t stay silent.“

„Aww, you’re no fun.“ Pacifica pouts and leans back, steading her arms behind her back. „So what are we going to do next?“

„Let’s set out immediately!“ Gideon says, jumping up down, his hands fisting at his sides. 

„Yeah, why waste time?“ Giffany agrees, pursing her lips. „I don’t like it here. It’s dark and it’s cold and there is nothing here, no sign of living in five miles radius!“

„Nah, we are not going to set out just yet…“ The Cat’s eye said, folding his hands underneath his chin and looking into the distance absentmindedly. „I have something else planned for them.“

„Why do you always have to be like this? Why can’t we just capture them and take them home? Wy do you always have to make things difficult?“ Pacifica groans frustatedly and throws her hands into the air.

„I am your leader and you have to obey me. We will do what I want or I will have to kill you.“ Bill just says adamantly and shrugs.

Pacifica scoffs and lifts her chin, crossing her slim arms over her chest. „Asshole.“ She hisses and turns around so her back is facing the yellow gem.

Something flickers across the eldest gem’s face, but as always he has his lineaments under strict control. „We will take them home, just not now.“

Grinding his teeth, he sits down and starts drawing old runes into the sandy ground with his index finger, letting them shine in a vibrant bright blue while half mumbling half singing a long spell. Once the circle around him is done, the cave is illuminated in a gentle white light pulsing around Bill; and his eye turns back in his head, leaving only the white eyeball staring into the void blankly. 

 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

„You ready?“ Mabel asks in anticipation, jumping up and down on her bed. Dipper just scoffs softly but smiley anyway, shaking his head. „You should be the one ready and I the one asking. Now stop being so hyperactive and go to sleep!“

„Blah, blah, fine.“ Mabel sticks out her tongue and and crawls underneath her sheets, tucking them in at her sides until she looks like a huge burrito. She sighs contently when the warmth engulfs her and closes her eyes. Dipper wishes he would get to sleep too, after a whole day of nonstop training under the stern eyes of Stan, he feels unbelievably exhausted and tired. Too bad the agreed on Dipper watching over Mabel during her sleep and wake her if necessary.

„Dipper, I can’t sleep.“ Mabel mumbles into her bright sheet, tossing and turning around a little. „Sing me sone Disco Girl please.“ She giggles evilly and Dipper jumps slightly, his cheeks immediately darkening. 

„That phase was like three years ago, Mabel! I don’t even like that song anymore!“

„Just messin’ with ya, brobro.“ Mabel yawns and tucks her hands underneath her thick strands of red hair. „Please wake me up if I make any weird noises, will ya?“ 

„Sure. Just watch out while you’re dreaming, okay? We don’t know what happens to our dream selves and if it affects our real bodies when they are attacked or something. Try no to get into any danger, okay?“

Mabel mutters something around the lines of ‚of course‘ and soon the heavy waves of sleep wash over her. 

∆ ∆ ∆

 

Mabel’s dream self awakens in the same room she had been dreaming of the night before, it is just as dark as it was then and the same candle is flickering in the middle of it although it is completely wind still. 

„Booyeah!“ Mabel cries out and does a random small victory dance, happy that their theory worked. Knowing that event will only start once she lifts the light, she turns around 360 degrees and inspects the whole room closely.

There is really nothing to see and she doesn't want to take the light. There is no way in hell she would even move closer to that light than outside a two meter radius. Declaring that there is nothing to do in this boring place with hidden horrors waiting to be discovered, Mabel just waits for something to happen. 

She waits. And waits. And waits. 

The Sunstone grows more and more bored with every second, her feet growing weary from all the standing around. She doesn't dare to sit down, however, knowing there are rivers of blood right to her left and right. Slowly but steadily, Mabel gets annoyed and stomps her foot down onto the ground. 

„Okay, whoever you are, causing all these nightmares, you are going to show yourself this intent! I am not going to stand here any longer and I am definitely not go into to pick up the light if that’s what you're hoping for! I am so done with your shit, stranger!“ She shouts into the silence, the darkness swallowing her words. 

For a few seconds, there is nothing, no response, no sound, no reaction, nothing.

Then suddenly there is a deafening crack and a huge blazing light blue flame inflames on the ceiling. Mabel squeaks and shields her eyes from the sudden amount of light and ducks reflexively. The flames consume the whole room, even the ground beneath her feet. She is no longer standing in the room, she is now floating in complete darkness. 

Hm. Weird. She didn’t even notice the change… But now that she thinks about it, she can feel the change. It is a familiar feeling, like falling through the bottomless pit felt a few years ago. The flames vanish and Mabel is surrounded by complete silence again.

„Aw come on!“ She groans into the vast darkness, folding her hands behind her back and letting her Sunstone shine, but the rainbow colored light isn't reflected by anything. 

That is, until a huge figure appears directly in front of her, so close their noses are almost touching. 

With a surprised yelp, she shifts backwards, pushing back the person before her with all her strength. The boost causes her to float wide back, far away from the source of her shock. Having shut off the light of her Sunstone, the voice seems to come out of nowhere, filling everything out and surrounding her. 

„Well, well, well, that was not very nice of you, young Sunstone.“ The person says, clicking his tongue. „Is that how you earth gems greet each other? by using force? That is very rude, I must say.“ The voice is definitely male and deep, and the quick yellow flicker where his tight eye would be tells her he is a gem too. 

She can’t identify the rest, even though a light blue glow is outlining the alien gem’s silhouette.

„And I don’t think the way you greeted me was very normal.“ Mabel hisses back, angrily baring her teeth. 

„That is hardly a problem since i don’t consider myself normal gem!“ The male gem says indifferently and floats closer to her again. 

„Weird homeworld gems… Who are you and why are you causing my brother and me these nightmares?“ Mabel demands, her voice becoming louder again.

„Oh, so you know I’, from homeworld… The two elder gems you call your ‚family‘ sure are smarter than I thought…“ He muses. 

„Don’t insult them!“ Mabel barks, trying to light her Sunstone again, but can’t bring it to glow. She tries and tries, but the only thing she archives is a weak pitiful spark flickering in the gem and dying again. Maybe he is using some kind of magic on her? But when did he cast the spell?

„Insult? No no no no, I am just telling the truth! And because you and the Moonstone are so special, I will tell you what out mission is about. Am I not generous? We, that is three other gems beside me, are going to take you back to Homeworld for you to face final justice there! Of course I would have gone into action a lot earlier, but I just wanted to test your mental strengths before we return you to Homeworld.“ He smiles brightly, razor sharp fangs flashing in the soft glow surrounding him.

„Who the hell are you?“ Mabel chokes out between clenched teeth, her hatred for the yellow gem growing with every second.

„Oh right, how rude of me. Having messed with your mind without telling you my name! I am Yellow Diamond’s Cat’s Eye. You can just call me Bill if you want, as you apparently don’t call yourself by gem names!“ Mabel can hear the sarcasm dripping from his words and she desperately tries to free herself from whatever kind of spell he -Bill- has cast on her. There is no way in hell she is going to hold out in this dream with the weirdo longer than an other minute. She channels energy into the Sunstone embedded into her chest, and suddenly, it feels like a barrier has been broken, there is a sharp blast of light and Mabel’s gem is pulsing with energy again, it’s rays onto the gem before her.

The yen floating in from of her is tall, intimidating and… oddly handsome? His body is of a lithe build and a triangular yellow gem is sparkling in his tight eye socket, covered a little by his golden hair. A tall black top hat is mysteriously floating above his head and he is lazily supporting himself on a black and yellow cane which goes well with his suit in the same colors. His amber eyes widen once he realizes she has broken free from his spell.

„Looks like you too are stronger than I have thought! You miserable earth gems probably have more potential than we have assumed!“ He exclaims like it is a delight to him, clapping his hands together and letting out a short laughter. Mabel’s vision goes red. 

„Is this like a game to you?! Do you find hurting and messing with others amusing? You disgust me! You have no right to do this, you sick jerk!“ Mabel shouts, the words just coming out of her mouth without her permission. But although it felt so good to shout at him, she can see just how bad her outburst was. How very, very bad. 

Bill’s eye slowly narrows and the blue fire stars flickering and cracking behind him. His eyebrows furrow deeply and he bares his teeth, or rather his fangs, the white razor sharp knives gleaming dangerously in the dimmed light. 

Suddenly, he is right in front of Mabel and grabs her throat, squeezing her windpipe shut with his strong hands. 

„No right?“ He growls low and it sends shivers running down Mabel’s spine. She immediately regrets every single word she said. 

„What do you know about me, young Sunstone?“ He spits the words out, disgust and anger seeping from them. Red, boiling rage is in his eye, burning hot like lava through the amber irises.

„I have every right to do this, and no one will ever prevent me from doing so. I am so much stronger than you, hell, you wouldn’t be able to imagine the extents of my power, and I can do whatever I want.“ His hand tightens around her throat even more, bruising the tender skin. The pain causes tears to prick Mabel’s eyes and a desperate choking noise escaper her throat. 

She immediately mentally kicks herself when she sees a wide maniacal grin spreading across the yellow gem’s features. That bastard is enjoying this! Mabel wants to throw up. She squirms and twists in Bill’s grip, trying to escape, to get away, to fill her aching lungs with soothing air.

Her diaphragm constricts and extends painfully, and panic washes over Mabel. If she won’t be able to breath within the next thirty minutes, she will suffocate!

She instinctively brings her knees up to her chest and just manages to kick Bill in the stomach with all her strength. Cursing and pressing a hand against his abdomen, the elder gem flies backward, and Mabel is finally, finally freed from his grip. She inhales and exhales in a far to fast rhythm, coughing and wheezing at the same time, her lungs and throat burning like fire, her airways swollen and not letting enough air through. 

With an other furious curse, Bill darts forward, his cane drawn, it’s sharp blade gleaming in the dim light. Mabel’s eyes widen. No! This is not what she wanted! She promised Dipper not to bring herself in danger and now she fighting against a very powerful gem at least five times her age! 

She ducks the blade jus tin time, but the Homeworld gem is fast and has already strikes out for the next blow, aiming for her side. The blade is at her waist quicker than she would have thought, and this time she knows she won’t be able to dodge. So she does the only thing thing she can think of: She let’s her laser gun appear in her right hand and barely deflects the powerful stroke. 

The muscles in her arm cram and start to tremble as she holds her gun against the Homeworld gem’s blade, trying to prevent the metal to cut into her flesh. With a high metallic sound, Bill disconnects his cane from Mabel’s laser gun and the young Sunstone immediately takes her opportunity and aims for his head. 

The bright red laser is skillfully deflected by shiny metal, so she fires one ofter the other, rays of laser all being deflected again. 

„You’re not strong enough to defeat me, little Sunstone.“ Bill snarls, blue fire crackling in the palm of his hand. The fire forms into a small ball which grows larger with every second until it has reached the size of a melon.

„You don’t even stand a chance against me, most loyal servant of Yellow Diamond, only one to complete eight hundred years of training of most difficult and deadly sort-

Zing.

A laser ZISCHT past the yellow gem, grazing his cheek. 

Mabel gasps, horrified. She must have pulled the trigger accidentally, sending a laser in Bill’s direction!

His eyes widen in unison with Mabel’s, but the emotion following the shock are complete opposites. 

„How dare you.“ He hisses, so low and controlled it makes Mabel want to hide away far, far away where no one will ever see her again. He wipes the blood away from his cheek with one harsh motion, staining the bright yellow of his suit.

„How dare you interrupt me whILE I AM TALKING?“ He screams, his voice ringing painfully in Mabel’s ears. He paces around, mumbling something in a language Mabel isn’t familiar with, gesticulating wildly. Mabel just stands there, frozen. „You know what? I have changed my mind. I am done with playing around with the two of you. It may have been short, but it was a lot of fun! It is time to take you and the miserable bunch you call family back to Homeworld! I am looking forward to having you executed by my diamond!“ He continues, suddenly very calmly, there is even a hint of amusement leaking through his voice. 

He taps a black gloved finger against his chin as if he was thinking about what the best way to take them would be. Mabel just waits. And stands still. Her whole body is in a rigour, and she cant move her muscles. It is just now that she realizes just how dangerous and insane Bill really is. And not only that. He is insane, fickle and extraordinarily changeable, which makes him to immensely strong, unpredictable maniac with powers probably beyond limit. 

It is also only now that Mabel fully understands the consequences this Homeworld gem will have on her family. He is probably stronger than Grunkle Stan and Ford fused as Onyx! He can also wield magic, which, according to Dipper, only very powerful and old gems can do… How on earth do they plan on fighting him back, let along defeat him? He additionally has three companions with him. What if they were just as strong as he is?

A this comes crashing down on Mabel, and the hopelessness of her situation lets her not hear that the Homeworld gem said it was time for her to ‚wake up’ and the paralysis of her body doesn’t let her dodge the huge fireball being flung at her.

Only when the hot blue fire starts melting away her skin and burning her bones let’s her return to reality. She screams and tries to shield herself with body parts that aren’t there anymore, the last scraps of the dream world clinging in her brain disappearing. 

∆ ∆ ∆

Mabel awakes out of sleep, panting and groaning, and Dipper immediately rushes to her side. 

„How was it?“ He asks and Mabel can see how tired he must be. There are black circles underneath his eyes and his eyelids are drooping every few moments. 

„Wait a minute… How long was I out?“ Mabel asks, turning her body to look out of the window. The sun isn’t up jet, but there are already birds chirping and singing out in the woods. 

„Don’t know, maybe sic hours or more? What on earth have you done in the dream?“ Dipper yawns, running his eyes exhaustedly. 

„What?“ Mabel cries, shaking her head unbelievingly. „ But I spent about an hour tops there! Anyway, there was this really creepy Homeworld gem, all yellow and black with only one eye. He is really old, probably more than 800 years and he is really strong and can use magic! He said a lot of confusing things… Wait a sec…“ Mabel squeezes her eyes shut, trying to remember anything from a few hours ago. 

Hmmm…. Mabel insulted him, and then the Homeworld dude lost it and then–

The young Sunstone inhales sharply, grabbing her win by the shoulders and shaking him harshly. 

„Dipper! Oh my god, no I remember! He is going to het us right now! He plans on taking all of us back to Homeworld and we are going to be executed there!“ Mabel yells, jumping out of her bed. „Quick, we have to warm Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford!“ She grabs his arm and drags him across the room. 

„Mabel wait! Are you completely sure? What if you misunderstood something?“

„I have never been more sure about anything in my whole life before. Although the desire to buy that human-sized hamster ball comes pretty much after.“ She giggles and Dipper just rolls his eyes. 

„Just mess in, brobro. Oh yeah, he killed my dream self after that so I am pretty sure it was a credible threat. Now come on, go, go, go!“

∆ ∆ ∆

The twins rush down into the living room, the soft sound of the television coming through through the closed wooden door. Without any warning, Mabel kicks it open, revealing he two older gems sitting in front of the television, probably watching some sort of stupid brainless reality show again. Stan is sitting on his so called ‚throne‘, his hand fumble around the armchair to fin the remote. Ford is multitaskingly still watching the show and tinkering with something that looks like a tiny robot. Metal parts and screws are scattered all over the floor. 

„Why are you up at this time of day? You should be sleeping!“ Stan says, turning down the volume.

„Guys! The Homeworld gems are coming to attack us, like right now! We have to prepare for battle!“ Mabel says hectically, gesturing wildly with her hands. 

The two elder gems immediately look more interested in a second, Stan shuts off the the tv and Ford puts his robot aside. 

„Why so sure?“ Grunkle Ford asks, furrowing his brows together and twirls the screwdriver in his hand thoughtfully. „They haven’t made a move so far, why would they attack us tight now?“ 

„Augh!“ Mabel groans, her hands fisting in her hair, tearing at the bright red strands. „Okay, okay, SO! We’ve been having these totally scary and angsty nightmares and we thought they could be caused by sone of the Homeworld gems–

„Wait… dreams?“ Ford cuts her off, his eyes widening. Stan’s just narrow. 

„Yeah… anyway, Dipper suggested we could find out who was causing them if we just waited there and didn’t so the same thine we did last time…“ Mabel trails off when she sees a hundred questions reflected in Fords expression. 

„And then I saw him, he was a Homeworld gem and he was really, really creepy… and old! He could even use magic!“

„Magic?“ Stan interrupts suddenly. „Did you just say magic?“

„Well yeah I–

„Ford, are you thinking what I’m thinking?“

„The gem being approximately eight hundred years old, powerful and skilled with magic that among other things can cause illusions or dreams? Are you saying…“

„Yeah, I’m thinking about Yellow Diamonds mysterious secret servant she had trained for more than six centuries and kept him hidden the whole time. I think she has just unleashed her most powerful servant.“

„That would be horrible! Mabel, you said that have met him?“

„Yeah, He was in my dream! That’s what I have been trying to tell you! Have you ever seen him? You seem to know a lot about him…“

„That is true…“ Ford sighs, folding his hands underneath his chin. „We have never met him, Yellow Diamond has always kept him a secret, but when Stan and she were still working together, she told him about her so called ‚newest project‘. Back in Homeworld, rumors said he is incredible strong, stronger than most gems, some even claimed his powers rivaled the ones of a Diamond. He is feared although nobody ever saw him and the countless horrible murders happing to that time were said to be his doing.“

„Oh my god! What are we going to do if he attacks us, now that he has come to earth?“ Mabel asks, fear reflected in the bright red of her eyes.   

„Don’t worry, sweetheart.“ Grunkle Stan says kindly and ruffles her hair. His eyes soften but there is a trace of worry and uncertainty flickering across his face, betraying his facade. 

Yellow Diamond can send so many servants she wants, but I will always protect you. Now let’s stop being sappy and prepare for battle. I have the feeling it’s gonna be a long night.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know when the next chap is coming out, but probably in a week or two. I am going to France (exchange) soon, so it depends on wether the family lets me have access to their Wifi or not :3
> 
> Let me know what you think!
> 
> If you find any typos etc. feel free to point them out!

**Author's Note:**

> For everybody who made it this far: 
> 
> Thanks a lot and please let me know what you think! <3


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